Part-detachable, foldable, and portable safety infant bed

ABSTRACT

An infant bed includes a flexible mat and combination units mounted along circumferential edges of the mat to form hinge sections between the combination units and the mat that allow the combination units to be erected along the edges of the mat to joint to each other and form a surrounding wall. Each of the combination units includes at least one elastic body and forms an access opening through which the elastic body is insertable into and removable from the combination unit for the purposes of cleaning. Each of the combination units is further provided with a folding section along which the combination unit is foldable, whereby the mat and the combination units are collectively foldable along the hinge sections and the folding sections to convert into a sized-reduced pack like article that is hand- or shoulder-carryable to provide advantages of aesthetics and being easy to carry.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to a safety infant bed that is foldable and portable and is also part-detachable for cleaning, and more particularly to an infant bed that is flexible and easy to wash and clean for the advantages of being sanitary and clean, and that is foldable into a hand- or shoulder-carryable size-reduced pack like form for the advantages of aesthetics and being easy to carry and use.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

A conventional infant bed or crib is often composed of a main structure made of wood or plastics and a surrounding wall or rail that is covered with cloth for cushioning and protection against any potential risk of damage caused by an infant colliding with the rigid rail when the infant rolls inside the bed. This requirement complicates the structure of the infant bed, making it difficult to mount and dismount the infant bed and not allowing for size adjustability of the infant bed, so that the conventional infant bed is not good for carrying and requires high manufacturing costs.

Foldaway infant beds are available in the market and an example is shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 of the attached drawings. The conventional foldaway infant bed, generally designated at 90, comprises a mat 91 and side barrier panels 92, which can be expanded to a planar form when the infant bed is not in use. The barrier panels 92 can be erected to form a circumferential wall around the mat 91 when the infant bed is used. To increase the mechanical strength for supporting, the barrier panels 92 or the mat 91 is additionally provided with reinforcements, which can be in the form of boards or a foamed object. However, no access opening is provided to allow for removal and re-insertion of the supporting reinforcements from and into the barrier panels 92 or the mat 91, washing to clean the infant bed or parts thereof is difficult when the infant bed 90 gets stained. The conventional infant bed thus lacks of the effect of being easily cleaned and maintaining sanitary. Further, the barrier panels 92 are not provided with any folding means to allow each barrier panel to fold over itself, so that the conventional infant bed 90 can only fold once and further folding into even smaller size is impossible. The conventional infant bed, even after being folded, still has a large size that is adverse for carrying and aesthetics.

FIG. 12 of the attached drawings shows another conventional infant bed, generally designated at 80. This conventional infant bed is provided with a carrying handle 81 to facilitate carrying and improve mechanical strength thereof. However, the handle 81 is made of a rigid material, making it inconvenient for carrying and use and showing no aesthetics.

Thus, the present invention aims to provide a safety infant bed that overcomes the above discussed problems of the conventional infant beds.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An objective of the present invention is to provide a safety infant bed that allows for easy washing and cleaning and thus has the advantages of being sanitary and clean for infants.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide a safety infant bed that can be folded into a size-reduced pack like form to offer the advantages of aesthesis and being easy to carry.

To achieve the above objectives, in accordance with the present invention, an infant bed is provided, comprising a flexible mat and a plurality of combination units mounted along circumferential edges of the mat to form hinge sections between the combination units and the mat that allow the combination units to be erected along the edges of the mat to joint to each other and form a surrounding wall. Each of the combination units comprises at least one elastic body and forms an access opening through which the elastic body is insertable into and removable from the combination unit for the purposes of cleaning. Each of the combination units is further provided with a folding section along which the combination unit is foldable, whereby the mat and the combination units are collectively foldable along the hinge sections and the folding sections to convert into a sized-reduced pack like article that is hand- or shoulder-carryable to provide advantages of aesthetics and being easy to carry.

The foregoing objectives and summary provide only a brief introduction to the present invention. To fully appreciate these and other objects of the present invention as well as the invention itself, all of which will become apparent to those skilled in the art, the following detailed description of the invention and the claims should be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the specification and drawings identical reference numerals refer to identical or similar parts.

Many other advantages and features of the present invention will become manifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to the detailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which a preferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of the present invention is shown by way of illustrative example.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an infant bed in accordance with the present invention in a fully-expanded condition, the view being taken from a top side.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the infant bed of the present invention in the fully-expanded condition, the view being taken from a bottom side.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating an example operation of inserting or removing an elastic body into or from a combination unit of the infant bed through an access opening of the combination unit.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the erection of the infant bed of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a top plan view showing one way of using the infant bed of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a top plan view showing another way of using the infant bed of the present invention.

FIGS. 7A, 7B, 8A, and 8B show sequential steps of folding the infant bed of the present invention into a size-reduced form.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing the infant bed of the present invention folded into a size-reduced pack like article.

FIG. 10 shows a conventional infant bed that is expanded to a planar form.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the conventional infant bed in an erected condition.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of another conventional infant bed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following descriptions are exemplary embodiments only, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of the invention in any way. Rather, the following description provides a convenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of the invention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made in the function and arrangement of the elements described without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Referring to FIGS. 1-4, the present invention provides an infant bed, which comprises a mat 10 and a plurality of constituent combination units, including a first combination unit 21, a second combination unit 22, a third combination unit 23, and a fourth combination unit 24.

The mat 10 can be expanded to have a top face thereof defining a horizontal lying surface. The mat 10 is formed as a quilt/blanket made of soft and flexible materials to allow an infant to lie thereon. The mat 10 also forms two connection sections 11, including for example loop-and-hook fastener straps. The connection sections 11 can be made in the form of lovely and interesting figures. The mat 10 has a bottom face to which two pockets 12 having entry openings and two carrying straps 13 that can be set to oppose each other are mounted, respectively for receiving and holding articles and hand carrying.

The first combination unit 21, the second combination unit 22, the third combination unit 23, and the fourth combination unit 24 are respectively set at four edges of the 10. The combination units 21, 22, 23, 24 can be respectively made in the form of an envelop or sleeve integrally extending from the mat 10, and the combination units 21, 22, 23, 24 respectively receive a plurality of elastic bodies 211, 221, 231, 241 (such as EVA (Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate) foam) therein to provide a desired strength of support and resilience. In the embodiment illustrated, each of the combination units 21, 22, 23, 24 receives and retains therein two elastic bodies 211, 221, 231, 241. Each of the combination units 21, 22, 23, 24 is provided with an access opening 212, 222, 232, 242, which is covered and concealed by a cover sheet 213, 223, 233, 243 that is fixed at two opposite ends only with the remaining portion being movable and openable. Each of the first combination unit 21, the second combination unit 22, the third combination unit 23, and the fourth combination unit 24 forms a hinge section 14 with respect to the mat 10, allowing the combination unit 21, 22, 23, 24 to be moved and set in an erected condition with respect to the mat 10. The plurality of elastic bodies 211, 221, 231, 241 of each combination unit 21, 22, 23, 24 is not connected to each other and thus the elastic bodies of each combination unit form a folding section 214, 224, 234, 244 of the combination unit between adjacent ones of the elastic bodies. Each of the first combination unit 21, the second combination unit 22, the third combination unit 23, and the fourth combination unit 24 has two opposite edges that are provided with jointing sections 215, 225, 235, 245 that oppose corresponding jointing section of an adjacent one of the combination units 21, 22, 23, 24. The jointing sections 215, 225, 235, 245 can be for example zipper fastener that releasably joint the adjacent ones of the first combination unit 21, the second combination unit 22, the third combination unit 23, and the fourth combination unit 24. A different example of the jointing sections 215, 225, 235, 245 is a loop-and-hook fastener, or other fastening or connecting device of the same function. Free corners of each of the first combination unit 21, the second combination unit 22, the third combination unit 23, and the fourth combination unit 24 are additionally provided with joint-reinforcing members 216, 226, 236, 246, such as buckles or snaps, for further and releasably joint the combination units to each other.

Referring to FIG. 3, in which the third combination unit 23 is taken as an example for describing setting/removing the elastic bodies 231 therein through the access opening 232 at least for the purposes of cleaning parts of the infant bed.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, to use the infant bed of the present invention, the first combination unit 21, the second combination unit 22, the third combination unit 23, and the fourth combination unit 24 are first bent about the hinge sections 14 to a desired erected condition. Adjacent edges of the combination units 21, 22, 23, 24 are then jointed by the jointing sections 215, 225, 235, 245 and the joint-reinforcing members 216, 226, 236, 246 to define a surrounding wall along a circumference of the mat 10. The jointing formed between the combination units 21, 22, 23, 24 is made tough and sound and cannot be easily detached in order to provide protection against falling and softness for safety.

The connection sections 11 are releasably connectable to two protector units 30, 40 that are expandably set in a form of roll and are provided with fastener sections 31, 42, such as loop-and-hook fastener straps. The mat 10 is further provided with a pillow 50. When an infant lies on the mat 10, the protector units 30, 40 can be properly adjusted and set to confine the infant between the two protector units 30, 40. In this way, the posture of sleeping of the infant can be restricted and rolling of the infant is prevented and further, the infant so restricted in the sleeping posture can have a beautiful head shape.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 6, the protector unit 40 can be expanded as a flat sheet for covering the body of the infant. Further, the protector unit 40 can be attached to the connection sections 11 to also effectively secure the sleeping posture of the infant and to prevent the infant from kicking away any quilt or blanket covering the infant.

Referring to FIGS. 7A, 7B, 8A, and 8B, to stow the infant bed, the infant bed is expanded in a planar form and then the first combination unit 21, the second combination unit 22, the third combination unit 23, and the fourth combination unit 24 are folded along the hinge sections 14 in an inward direction to overlap the mat 10. Due to the folding sections 214, 224, 234, 244 of the first combination unit 21, the second combination unit 22, the third combination unit 23, and the fourth combination unit 24, the mat 10 and the first combination unit 21, the second combination unit 22, the third combination unit 23, and the fourth combination unit 24 can be further folded along the folding sections 214, 224, 234, 244. Namely, the mat 10 is first folded inward and then further folded again. In other words, the mat 10 itself is folded twice, so that the two carrying straps 13 become projecting outward from an edge of the folded bed and oppose each other, making the bed so folded a small pack like article.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 9, the infant bed of the present invention, after being for folded as discussed above, becomes a pack like article that can be carried by a hand holding the carrying straps 13 or can be carried on a shoulder. The protector units 30, 40 that are expanded in a planar form and the pillow 50 can be fit into or otherwise received in the pockets 12 to thereby providing advantages of aesthetics and being easy to carry.

While certain novel features of this invention have been shown and described and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intended to be limited to the details above, since it will be understood that various omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the forms and details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be made by those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention. 

1-10. (canceled)
 11. An infant bed comprising a flexible mat and a plurality of combination units mounted along circumferential edges of the mat to form hinge sections between the combination units and the mat that allow the combination units to be erected along the edges of the mat to joint to each other and form a surrounding wall; wherein each of the combination units comprises at least one elastic body and forms an access opening through which the elastic body is insertable into and removable from the combination unit for the purposes of cleaning, each of the combination units is further provided with a folding section along which the combination unit is foldable, each of the combination units comprises a cover sheet that covers and conceals the access opening of the combination unit, the cover sheet being fixed at opposite ends and movable at remaining portions, each of the combination units comprises a plurality of elastic bodies that are not connected to each other so as to define each of the folding sections between adjacent ones of the elastic bodies, and the combination units comprise jointing sections that releasably joint the combination units to each other; whereby the mat and the combination units are collectively foldable along the hinge sections and the folding sections to convert into a sized-reduced pack like article that is hand- or shoulder-carryable to provide effect of aesthetics and being easy to carry. 